In 1997, the Wooster campus of the Ohio State University’s (OSU) Ohio Agricultural and Research Development Center (OARDC) reached a crisis when the earthen manure storage pond for dairy manure reached its maximum level.  A Nutrient Management Team was formed to analyze nutrient balances based on a phosphorus standard and to evaluate options for maintaining nutrient balance.  Based on theses analyses, it was determined that the highly liquid dairy manure (85-90% moisture) provided the greatest challenge.  To maintain nutrient balance would require significantly reducing animal numbers or exporting nutrients off campus.  The Team concluded that composting the manure would enhance drying of the manure through biological activity and decrease the volume of material to be exported.

Pilot scale studies indicate that composting manure with approximately 75% moisture is most efficient with continuous aeration.  Currently, manure with a 3 to 1 mixture of dairy and chicken manure is composted in windrows approximately 5 miles east of the dairy facilities.  Aeration is achieved only through turning every 4 to 14 days.  The composting has been successful in decreasing the volume of material by approximately 50% and producing a material that can be spread on OARDC test plots which are not available for raw manure.  The proposed composting site was designed in cooperation with the NRCS, ODNR and OEPA and provides the opportunity to evaluate pad design and runoff treatment as well as composting.  A 30,000 square foot concrete pad will permit continuous aeration and will be used primarily for research.  An adjacent 30,000 square foot earthen pad will be used for research and demonstration as a more cost-effective surface for composting.  Each pad will be drained to a separate series of three wetland cells that will allow treatment of storm water runoff from the pad.